Questions and answers about security clearances

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats added that the American public needs to know that this interference "is real" and that the country needs to build a system to protect elections from meddling. Several senior officials, including chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn, were aware of the broad allegations against Porter for months, officials said. One goes that former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who author Michael Wolff claimed once dated Hicks, is behind the smear. Surely we've learned by now that whatever she claims to say privately to Trump, she's all-in with his defense.

Sanders would also not say whether President Trump - who - believed Porter's ex-wives. Wray says the FBI provided information to the White House on Porter in November, "then earlier this month we received some additional information and we passed that on as well". Putting aside the salacious and outrageous underlying allegations, the best way to keep any story alive is to keep changing your story, which the White House has been doing at a breakneck pace.

"It's the same handwriting, it's same type of tone and message".

"It's sad that people exist out there in the world that are crazy", Trump told Cosby.

"Both", Sanders replied, later adding: "I can only give you the best information that I have". Ryan's comments and word of the House probe followed a day after the FBI contradicted the White House over the Porter accusations.

Editor's note: Samantha Vinograd, a CNN national security analyst, served on the National Security Council during President Barack Obama's administration from 2009 to 2013.

Sanders initially had said last week that Porter would "stay on to ensure that there's a smooth transition moving forward".

For nearly a week now President Trump's communications team has spun a misleading narrative about why Porter was still working at the White House with access to classified information despite only holding an interim security clearance.

A second White House official, Trump speechwriter David Sorensen, left the White House last Friday after his ex-wife, Jessica Corbett, described physical abuse that included being thrown into a wall and burned by a cigarette.

But the White House accelerated Porter's departure as its explanations started to fall apart.

Though Porter was not recognized widely outside the White House, he was an increasingly powerful figure in the West Wing, responsible for controlling all the documents going to Trump's desk, including classified information.

Last Wednesday, Kelly described Porter as "a man of true integrity and honor".

February 2017: Holderness contacts Willoughby and the two discuss their stories, realizing their common experiences.

But White House officials had known for months of at least the broad charges of abuse against Porter by his ex-wives, as revealed Tuesday by FBI Director Christopher Wray. Eric Trump has weighed in on the furor surrounding accusations of domestic violence against former White House aide Rob Porter, saying that anyone who abuses women is the "lowest of the low".

Turning to the scare his sister-in-law, Vanessa Trump, faced Monday when she received an envelope containing a white powdery substance, Eric Trump said that his wife, Lara, faced a similar circumstance last year.

On Tuesday, Wray outlined how he had voiced concerns over ousted White House staffer Rob Porter's clearance because of documented accusations of domestic abuse, completed an investigation as a result and briefed the White House.

The day Porter resigned, Sanders portrayed it as his decision alone. "His clearance was never denied, and he resigned".

Kilmeade did good work in hopping on the fact that the president hadn't in fact condemned domestic violence after we heard of the allegations and the chilling photographic evidence that accompanied them.

And Wray's comments to the committee indicate that the interim clearance probably should have been revoked.